The War Journals: Resistance

by Cory Mccoy

  “Today,” Connor yelled loudly to the crowd of over a hundred of the best fighters, “Commander Espinoza is going to teach you how to fight in these streets. Today, you learn how to fly.”

  “Alright, up the ramp!” I yelled at the dozens of people on three large half pipes. They scrambled trying to get themselves up with nothing but will power. One by one they slid and fell backward, taking their friends down with them.

  “Again!” Connor roared as they got back on their feet. Only a few had made it up top.

  “You cant climb this wall, you stupid fucks!” I yelled as they again fell backward. “move lightly, thrust yourself where you can. This isn’t a treadmill!”

  “Do we need to break out a chalkboard and draw colorful pictures to get you asses to understand?” Connor bellowed as he hopped down the ramp, sliding gracefully, as if he were on a skateboard, before lunging through the crowd. He dodged, spun, and hopped over the people in his way before running up the wall as if it were a stair case.

  “Come the fuck on!” I yelled “he just ran through your uncoordinated asses and made it up. Get your shit together!”

  And so it continued until every last one of them made it up as if they were stepping over a puddle. Ever day the training became more intense. We moved to the streets using rubber bullets to reinforce the importance of the exercises. Connor would usually pull his own gun and take out half the line. Eventually I made him stop participating in the group exercises. He was learning how to work this completely different body, but his instincts had never changed. He was a predator. The badger you refuse to corner because the outcome was never pretty.

  It was a daunting task, but one made easier by commanding all of the resources available in the free world.

  He inspired them. He told me that I did the same, I wasn’t so sure, but the progress was hard to argue with. We had created a guerrilla army.

  Connor frequently disappeared. No one knew where. I had the highest possible security clearance, as I was second in command of the Resistance. I was Connor's shadow, replacing him when he couldn’t, or didn’t want to, attend high level meetings with various heads of state.